Jack

A gentleman of sorts

2011-05-25T09:40:38Z

Jack and I were talking about his library book "The night before Christmas" that he had chosen. One topic leads to the next and soon we he was asking why reindeer have antlers. I explained that sometimes they fight and we talked about what they fight about. I said they fight about who is boss & he said they fight about a girl too. I asked him if he would fight with someone about a girl and he said no. I asked if he would if it were Ele'or (who loved him and left him half-a-lifetime ago but still retains his loyalty).

Jack, chivalrously said 'no' - I would just say that she is mine and they should leave her alone.

I see rubbish Jack sees potential.

2011-05-08T08:30:25Z

Whatever he sees lying around Jack seems to be instantly able to envisage it being turned into something completely different. A couple of old cardboard boxes. That's my Buzz Lightyear Rocket Ship. A plastic shopping bag. My parachute.Toilet rolls become a robot. Whenever he sees beers bottle around the house he leaps on them & sellotapes them together to send home with friends as guns. A ruler and a car seat buckle after the usual large amount of sellotable became a sword and an empty vodka bottle & wine bottle were filled with water and taped together to become a water filled version of an hour glass. He recently came home from daycare with a ninja turtle costume made out of paper but after seeing an episode of the series he augmented it with a pair of paper scabbards holding ruler-swords criss crossing his back.

Pocket money

2010-10-19T09:41:44Z

In order to counteract Jack's requests for this's & that's we have implemented a pocket money regime. Jack thought this was a great idea and went into his room & found his piggy bank and managed to open it. I'm rich I'm rich he shouted! To Richard and my surprise he was - he has be snaffling away every coin he found for the last two years and had well over $20 in there

They're here!

2010-10-07T18:52:32Z

Jack jumped into my bed this morning & told me that Granny & Grandpa were here. I asked if he'd been down to see them and he told me he saw their car outside so he went downstairs and looked and they were in bed down there. I asked if he woke them up but he said no, he just looked and saw them. I guess he was just making sure.

John Tamihere was right

2010-09-15T08:52:09Z

Jack explained to me very seriously today that I have two bottoms but he only has one. Perhaps my neckline was too low, because he pointed to it and told me that I have a bottom on my tummy whereas he only has one on his bum.

What a sweetie

2010-08-26T23:51:33Z

Having forgotten Jack's lunchbox this morning I shot down to daycare just before lunch to take it in. When I got there the kids were sitting on the mat singing. Sharon (the teacher) got them to sign their last song & say their little 'thanks for the food' sort-of-prayer. She then said that Jack, Dylan and Keira could get up first and go and wash their hands. Jack stood up and turned to Sharon very seriously and said "Can I give my Mummy a hug first" - awww

Jack's Tower

2010-07-28T02:33:38Z

Jack was in the cafeteria at Te Papa, in the play area with the giant Leggo-style building blocks. Jack began building a square pillar. An older and taller boy was building too, but he just put one block on top of the next to make a tall, unstable tower. His tower rose more rapidly. Jack took note and continued upwards in the same way. Loose blocks became scarce so the other boy had to dash away, leaving his tower to totter and crash, scattering blocks across the floor. Jack pounced so fast the other boy didn't see him, and with the newly won blocks, continued on up. With its wider base his tower was still stable. Jack had to stretch up on tip-toe to place his latest block, but a quick check showed that his neighbour's tower was now even taller. Though neither boy acknowledged the other, they were rivals.

What to do? Jack thought for a moment then pounced on the block bin, upended the remaining blocks onto the floor, and placed this by his tower. He climbed onto it, hugging a few more blocks in his arms, but even so he ran out of stretch before his tower was high enough. The other bin was tried, but to no advantage.

Oh well, you can't win them all. I want to see the motor bike.

Oh yeah, those hands

2010-06-29T20:35:47Z

Yesterday we got Luke's hair cut for the first time. Jack saw me pocketing an envelope afterwards and asked what it was. I told him that they put Luke's hair from his first haircut into an envelope and gave it to me and that I had a similar envelope at home with hair from his first hair cut. I said that I kept some special things like that. This morning Jack wanted to see his special things - like his hair. I didn't want to fish the hair out so I offered him the chance to see his baby clothes and he agreed.

In amongst the baby clothes there was a small box which we looked in. It had bubble wrap and plaster of paris hands inside. I told Jack to be very careful of them because they were his hands from when he was a baby. He looked at me and said matter-of-factly with his serious little face - 'yeah they were my hands when I was a baby and then they fell off and I grew new ones'

Jack the reader

2010-06-03T11:59:03Z

While at my computer I heard Jack in the lounge call Luke over and tell him he was going to read Mighty Machines to him. After hearing him 'read' for a bit I realised that what he was saying was pretty special and I started typing it down. This is what I managed to capture (of about 15 similar statements):

Diggers are really strong for you.and they help you dig

Bulldozers are really big for you They push up all the roads

Plane-trucks are really good for you. They help you carry plane wings

Graders are really good for you they push up all the roads

A truck's really good you they help you drive about

I went over to look and he point to the words on the page and told me "that's the word - that's what it says". The words he pointed to were not similar to what he was saying but he certainly was telling me he was reading them. The picture of a 'plane-truck' was a truck with a plane wing on it's trailer

Jack's hospitality

2010-05-07T23:03:02Z

Jack was tremendously excited about my Aunty Sue and cousin Anna coming to stay and well before they had arrived had moved on from clarifying whether they were his best friends to deciding which of his other friends they could be friends of as well.

Jack also catered to his guests by ensuring Anna had somewhere to sleep. We had removed the pop-up bed from under his bed and put it in the lounge. This left an empty space under his bed which Jack prepared for Anna by putting a cot matress and a pillow in it. In the end Anna decided to sleep on the bed in the lounge as she was unreasonably attached to being able to move during the night but I think she appreciated his hospitality